September 26, 2006Reforms to improve college access to poor picking up steamUVa's move yesterday to end early decision was yet another sign that schools are becoming more conscious about economic diversity - or lack thereof. Known for both its academic rigor and its preppy popped collars, UVa typically finds itself atop lists for public school selectivity and at the bottom in economic diversity. Officials there hope that eliminating the early decision program, which locks in students who apply early regardless of the financial aid package, will lead to more spots opening up for students who can't pay their way and typically need to compare college costs before deciding where to go. While UVa is the first school in the state to go this route, it isn't the only Virginia school where students from low-income families are nearly non existent. The University of Richmond was the private school counterpart to UVa in a story by the Chronicle of Higher Education listing well-endowed schools with the lowest percentage of Pell Grant recipients -- this is a nationwide survey, mind you. In another national list published last month, Washington and Lee University had the lowest percentage of Pell Grant recipients among the top-25 liberal arts colleges according to the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings. For what it's worth, a comprehensive list provided by Tom Mortensen at Postsecondary.org using 2003 numbers shows W&L with 3.6 percent of its students on Pell Grants and dead-last statewide, the University of Richmond at 6.3 percent and next-to-last and UVa at 8.4 percent and 115th out of 118. In Virginia, at least, academic prestige = rich kids. For comparison's sake, UC-Berkeley, a public university with similar academic requirements to UVa, comes in at 34 percent. W&L spokesman Tim Kolly said today that officials at the Lexington school would meet next week to discuss the possibility of joining Harvard, Princeton and UVa among the schools that have decided to end the early decision practice. University of Richmond spokesman Brian Eckert said officials discussed that possibility this past spring but decided against it -- despite the fact that early decision applicants make up about 20 to 25 percent of each freshman class and do have an advantage in the admissions process. He pointed out that the school is looking at other programs, such as one that gives in-state students with family incomes of $40,000 or less a free ride, to address the issue. Virginia Tech officials have said on multiple occassions that they have no plans to end early decision, reasoning that their early decision program doesn't function the same way as Harvard's, Princeton's or even UVa's. And they're right, admission rates are much higher at Tech, so the velvet-rope, priveleged-entry effect at Ivies or wannabe Ivies doesn't exist in Blacksburg. But Tech can't crow about economic diversity -- only 13.8 percent of students at the state's senior land-grant university receive Pell Grant funds, ranking them 106th among institutions of higher education in Virginia. |
About this blog
Rhode Island native and Virginia Tech reporter Greg Esposito posts on everyday college life, trends and issues affecting the 35,000-plus students in the New River Valley and beyond.
Tim Thornton, who is old enough to have children attending college, is still taking classes and is still fascinated by colleges, the students who populate them and the bureaucrats who operate them. His reporting beat is Radford University.
West Virginia native Anna Mallory blogs on student life topics at Virginia Tech, Radford University, New River Valley Community College -- and beyond.
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